Waterbury, Archie  

If at all possible DO NOT take this guy for bio 151 lab. I took him and it was his first year teaching this course, he was AWFUL. Our class average was 60% tell you anything? Take anyone else! He is unhelpful and doesn't answer questions clearly.

Waterbury teaches this class with ease. During one lecture, his laptop refused to work, and he proceeded to recite the entire lecture from memory. BIO 213 was one day a week, with quizzes on the lecture given at the start of the next week's lecture. The textbook is recommended, but completely unnecessary if you just attend the lecture.

Super great prof, who seems interested happy with his job. He's a good lecturer, his style mostly keeps your attention. This class is highly recommended. There are once a week lectures, with a 15-20 min quiz on the lecture before each class. They are fairly easy (think high school style), and he puts past quizzes online for you to practice. He tells you at the beginning of the quarter what you need to get the grade you want, so there are no surprises there. You do need to spend a little time studying for the quizzes, but not long (maybe 45 min on a hard topic). Your final is just the last quiz. Really enjoyed the class, and learned some stuff. The prof was what made the class so nice though.

Archie was a great professor for a class that had so little to do with most of the student's major. Class met once a week, for two hours, and we usually got out 10-15 minutes early. No tests or midterms, just a quiz at the first 15 minutes of class every week. No final either, just the 10th quiz (which he let us take after the last lecture, if we didn't want to show up on finals week). Past quizzes were on Blackboard, and most of the questions were the same or similar, making studying pretty simple and straightforward. The material could get dry, but Archie tried to keep us awake with stories and jokes. I'd reconmend this professor to anyone taking BIO 213 (even though he's the ONLY teacher, from the looks of it), or any other class.

This prof realizes that BIO 213 is a total waste of time, so he doesn't waste anyone's time getting the material across. If you're good at learning from slides, you don't even need to stay at most of the lectures. You can just take the quiz and leave. However, he does give "integrity quizzes" when attendance is sparse. If you need the extra points, hang out :) Overall solid teacher, a bit dry, but easy to learn from. Be sure to study the lecture slides multiple times as he does test on minutia.

This class in itself is pretty cake if you just show up to lecture and study 30 minutes before each quiz. I came in knowing nothing about Biology and breezed my way thru the class. There are no tests, no homework, no final. Just one quiz every week on the lecture from the week before. So like I said earlier, just study 30 minutes before class and you'll be fine.

This class was great. I never had a class like this before. All his lectures were off power point, which he made available for you online. The whole class was based on a weekly quiz, but they were not cumulative. You just had to memorize the power point notes from his lecture and remember it for the quiz. There were no midterms or finals. He also gives you extra credit some days if you stick through the boring lecture. Overall, this class was easy, and just involved spending about two hours a week reading through the notes and practice quiz he had online.

Waterbury is very cut and dry. He knows he is teaching engineers Biology, which is something completely unrelated so he only covers the basics of Biology. There are only 2 midterms (50% each) throughout the quarter and no final, no homework. Go to all the lectures. He gives integrity quizzes that help your grade so much.

As much as I hate biology along with 99% of the people taking the class, I thought Waterbury was a good teacher. His lectures were easy to follow and the occassional one-liners were nice. He gives extra credit during random times when the class attendance is low, so show up every time and it will really boost your grade, I know it did to mine.

Dr. Waterbury is a very good professor, but his lectures are a bit hard to follow. He tries to scare students out of the class the first 2 weeks, and it works! His tests are hard, but the questions are almost exactly, word-for-word off the old tests he gives you. Try to find one with the answers, though, or else you could be studying the worng information and not even know it. He gives lots of chances for extra credit, so even if you don't do well on the tests you can end up with more than 50 points of E.C. Go to class and take notes as well as you can and you'll do fine.

His tests are strictly fill in the blank. The only good thing is that he gives you practice tests, but they have NO answers to go with them. If you think that you have the right answer it could very well be wrong and you would miss it on the test without knowing. He goes off on tangents of things that aren't relative to the topics that you are discussing in class. He is a difficult person to take good notes from. He just lectures and you have to pick out what is important. What you feel is important is not always what he considers important.

Dr. Waterbury is a good guy, and he makes genetics an interesting topic. I enjoyed his class, and the grade is made up of 4 exams (3 midterms and a non-cumulative final) and 2 papers. He grades the papers pretty easily, I got full credit and this is my first and only BIO class at poly. The tests are basically a lot of memorization, and they are completely fill-in. He does not give +/- grades, and he offers a packet of the old tests to study from (BUY THIS, it is extremely useful). He will answer any questions you have at his office hours, and he is extremely knowledgeable. It wasn't an easy A, but one for the taking if you study hard.

His lectures are really interesting and it is easy to take good notes. However the reading is rather difficult. He also has his old tests for sale in the bookstore, which normally would be helpful, but the course was recently changed to a four unit course so his lectures and test questions are all different. His tests are nearly impossible to pass.

It seems Waterbury enjoys both teaching the class and the material covered. He provides interesting and entertaining "asides" to the lecture material that is covered on tests. There are four equally weighted tests - all fill in. They are challenging, but if you study the text, lecture notes, and previous tests (which can be bought at Second Edition) you will be okay. There are also two papers on a topic that you choose that is related to human genetics. Overall - good class and professor.

I took Genetics when it was a big lecture class with no lab. So I never really talked to Waterbury much, but our brief encounters made him seem like a pretty nice guy. His lectures were good, and his exams only tested what was covered in lecture. And they tested almost everything he covered in lecture. (so take notes rapidly) I don't know if the structure is still the same, but his exams were easy. Fill-in the blank-- so make sure you know the answers.

Waterbury is a good teacher who knows his stuff. He has corny jokes and sometimes the material was interesting, but not always. You don't even need to read the book, just make sure and go to lecture every day and take good notes. His tests are fill-in, which is kinda tough, but it isn't too bad. Overall, I'd recommend him, he is a pretty cool teacher and a pretty cool guy.

He is a passionate professor and really knows his stuff. You don't need to read the book. All you have to do is take good class notes and make sure you write everything that he puts down on the white board. If you do the practice exams he puts on the Blackboard you will get no worse than a B. I really recommend him!!!

I highly recommend this guy. He was hilarious and made the lectures fun and very interesting. The material from this class is very relevant to everyone's lives, especially if you plan to have kids in the future. I don't really like Bio, but this guy made it a good class. Homework load wasn't bad, just a lot of reading and two 4-page papers which are very easy. If you do them and follow directions, you'll get full credit. There are about 4 tests which seem to come back to back, and they are pretty difficult because they are fill in. You'll do fine in the class if you read and take very good notes in class. He also provides you with practice tests online that help a lot. TAKE THIS GUY FOR BIO!!!

Pretty easy class. Tests have some random questions. Doesn't use +/- grades, don't bother asking why. He is always right. Boring, but not horrible. Don't bother buying the book.

Professor Waterbury is a really nice guy. His lectures are a little scattered at times, just make sure to write down everything he puts on the board. He's retired, so he's pretty laid back. Ask questions if you have them -- he's very approachable and wants students to do well. The class consists of 4 non-cumulative exams, all FILL-IN. They can be difficult if you don't take the practice tests a few times. The practice tests are VERY similar to the ones he actually gives so use them. There are also two 3-page papers on the topic of your choice. I'm pretty sure he just skims all of them and gives you full credit if you have the 3 pages. Don't cut it short or he'll knock points off!! The class was interesting for the most part -- just make sure to get the textbook so you can clear up some of the stuff he's vague about. Anyway, he's a cool guy. Oh yeah -- go to class, even if it's boring, because sometimes he gives "pop-quizzes" that are basically just free extra credit!!!

I thought this was a very interesting class. Dr. Waterbury is very knowledgable about the subject. This was one class I did not mind going to. The tests are easy to get a B but hard to get an A. There are some random questions thrown in. I would recommend doing the practice tests he has online because 85% of the test is made up of those. Also, make sure you go to class everyday, especially the week when he hands back exams because he likes to give extra credit. There were also 2 three page papers, make sure you have at least 3 full pages or you will get marked down. I would recommend this teacher to anyone. He is very fair and a great prof.

i really loved this class. You learn so much about random stuff. He sparked my interest in human genetics. You kinda have to have an open mind because he is a little strange, but what can you expect form a bio teacher? Bio 302 is easy and you learn a lot. You dont really need the text book. It's helpful if you didnt do too well in general bio, but if you know your basic bio, you can do without the text. Pay attention in class, take notes, and study the practice tests. He doesn't give +/- grades which really motivated me to get an A. Trust me, it isn't too hard to do. He gives full credit on the two essays if you follow the directions, and the tests are similar to the practice tests. He also gives out 10 point EC which is super-helpful, so go to class!

Very nice guy. Gives out alot of extra credit so go to class after tests. His tests are pretty hard if you have bad test anxiety. They are in the fill in the blank format. He is VERY detailed oriented, so make sure to memorize percentages and other non-important facts.

I've never had a more-interesting bio class than the one Waterbury taught. I am usually hopeless with the sciences, but this teacher taught it clearly, with a very engaging lecture style. You can tell he's been teaching a long time, because he is very good at it. His tests can be hard, because they are fill-in-the-blank rather than multiple choice, but I would still recommend this teacher to anyone. Two thumbs up!

An excellent professor. Very staightforward lecture style. Exams are a mixture of mult choice, fill in, and some genetic problems to solve. Grading scheme is very clear and fair.

Dr. Waterbury is an amazing professor. Coming into the class, I expected it to be extremely difficult. Dr. Waterbury clearly explains everything you need to know in class. Occasionally, he goes off tangents a bit, but for the main part, he sticks to teaching the course material. He gives 3-4 extra credit quizzes for attendance (usually the day after the test or the last day of the week), so make sure and attend regularly, because they're random and unexpected! There is no homework (other than studying for midterms). There are 3 midterms (none of them are cummulative). Each of them are based on the previous 5-6 lectures only. Each midterm is worth 100 points (the final is considered a midterm too), so the class is a total of 300 points. A lot of people were complaining about his midterms, but I thought they were very easy as long as you studied the material (I got a 95% on the first one, a B on the second, and an A on the third). For some reason though, the class average in that class was in the high 60's, so make sure not to underestimate the course material. Just because this class doesn't have a lab, doesn't mean it's a cakewalk. Study your notes (don't buy the book, you never need it), and you can easily pull off an A or a B in this class.